Posts tagged with 'forests'
The world’s forests face a dire threat. Each year, 6 to 9 million hectares (15 to 22 million acres, an area roughly the size of Denmark) of forests are permanently cleared and many millions more are degraded. But many decisions affecting forests ...
Countries agreed to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) and ideally 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement. The latest science shows that emissions will need to drop ...
The COVID-19 crisis has shown how deep inequalities make society as a whole more vulnerable – providing important lessons for building resilience in an era of climate change. The people most exposed to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic ...
*Editor’s note: On August 7, 2020, our Brooklyn Bridge Forest Proposal won the Reimagining Brooklyn Bridge contest. The text below was updated accordingly. * The Brooklyn Bridge, with its distinctive gothic towers and cable-bound span, is one of the most recognizable landmarks ...
Mérida, a city in Mexico’s lush Yucatán Peninsula, is home to 2.3 million trees, which cover more than 20% of the metropolitan area. Mérida’s officials know that these trees provide benefits to the residents, but until recently they didn’t know how ...
The Trillion Trees Initiative has garnered support from business and political leaders around the world. U.S. President Trump highlighted the initiative as the cornerstone of his plan to protect the environment, a rare shift for an administration that has moved to withdraw ...
Every year for the past decade, scientists have come together to measure the gap between where greenhouse gas emissions are headed under current climate pledges, and where they need to be in order to limit global warming to the levels ...
Baltimore, like many post-industrial cities, confronts novel challenges. Once the sixth largest city in the U.S., Baltimore’s population has contracted by more than a third, resulting from a complex suite of factors including job loss, economic decline, and discriminatory policies or housing and lending practices. It’s ...
In late August, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced that he will move the country’s capital to another island. The current capital of Jakarta is located on Java, the most populated island in the world. President Widodo’s motivation for moving is ...
What if you could send a WhatsApp message and a colorful green van would deliver free native tree seedlings directly to you? In Salvador, Brazil, the local government does just that. Painted with a picture of a biodiverse Brazilian forest, ...
As the recent Global Climate Action Summit underscored, we’re seeing a steady rise in the number of commitments by cities, states and provinces to address climate change, with over 17,500 actions registered on the NAZCA Climate Action Portal. Not only are ...
In 2014, São Paulo nearly ran out of water. Schools closed, crops faltered and reservoirs were left at a tiny 5 percent of their capacity for the city and its surrounding population of 22 million. It was the worst drought in eight decades. ...
Most people don’t associate cities with trees, but urban areas are actually dependent on healthy forests. Trees within cities reduce heat, provide spaces for recreation and socialization, and increase property values. Nearby trees in the watersheds around cities filter drinking water and ...
As India prepared to commemorate its 72nd Independence Day last month, the southern state of Kerala saw little reason to celebrate. The monsoon rainfall this year was heavier than normal and had reached alarming levels. On an average, districts received ...
If you’re reading this, you are probably a city dweller. More than half of humanity lives in cities, and the percentage continues to grow. As more and more of us move from the rural landscapes our ancestors called home, we are particularly estranged ...